Originally published February 3rd, 2013. On weekends and weekdays throughout the year, thousands of amateur drag racers take their daily driven vehicles to the dragstrip to see how quick their car, truck or SUV is and who they can beat while finding out. It is great fun and a licensed driver can do it in any vehicle, minivans included! But the key to a great elapsed time is the “launch”. When enthusiasts read magazine test results that don’t reflect their personal experience, or especially when it comes to rivalries, they lose interest. What would be ideal is to learn what a vehicle is capable of which would also tell if the published test result is the best potential run. The launch is revealed to the racers on a printed timeslip handed out at the end of each ¼ mile race. The key measurement for the launch is the time it takes the vehicle to reach sixty feet. The difficult part is managing the available surface traction, tire grip and vehicle power. This is not related to the reaction...